Not that a lot of that hit came from the HBO opener. Vinyl, the drama series about the record industry of the early and decadent 1970s, drew 764,000 viewers for the premium cabler for its 9-10:54 pM ET premiere. That’s no Game Of Thrones obviously, but OK bordering on soft for an HBO debut. The opener is just a little up from what the Season 2 debut of The Leftovers pulled in on October 4 last year in a big drop from its series debut.

With Chandler Rigg’s Carl Grimes character literally taking a near-fatal shot to the head on TWD, the Greg Nicotero-directed “No Way Out” Season 6 return pulled in 13.74 million viewers with a 6.8 rating among the 18-49 demo. That’s down 12% and 15%, respectively, from the total audience of 15.6 million and 8.0 rating that the Season 5 midseason debut drew on February 8 last year (not a holiday weekend). That new-year return had a special Sunday debut of Better Call Saul as its lead-out. With TWD wind in its sails, that Breaking Bad spinoff smashed cable records with the best demo debut result ever — until TWD spinoff of a sorts Fear The Walking Dead came along in April and rewrote those cable records.

In a TWD season that has seen dips for the still-massive ratings that the series based on Robert Kirkman’s comics pulls in, Sunday’sepisode was pretty steady compared to its winter finale of November 29 last year, which had 13.9 million viewers and a demo rating of 7.02. Overall, Sunday’s show was the least-watched TWD midseason return since 12.26 million tuned in for the Season 3 return on February 10, 2013.

As is their policy, AMC is waiting until Live+3 numbers are out for both TWD and the February 15 Season 2 debut of Better Call Saul before they talk ratings. On two busy nights, that delayed viewing could tell quite the story.

Elsewhere in cable, Kobe Bryant’s last ever All-Star Game appearance scored 6.18 million viewers with a 2.7 rating. That’s a drop of 18% in total viewership from what the 2015 game drew on TNT. Maybe the NBA won’t be wanting to take on TWD next year.

18 Comments

Joe • on Feb 17, 2016 8:06 am

Really? 700k viewers is OK for the premiere of a high-profile, expensive HBO show? They pretty much cancelled The Leftovers for those kind of numbers (I know, I know, Lindelof suddenly decided it’s time to end it, etc.) I think it also marks the lowest rated premiere for a drama they had in recent years.

Andrew David • on Feb 17, 2016 9:24 am

Yeah, I think the writer is underselling just how disappointing those ratings are. You have to all the way back to In Treatment to find a lower drama premiere, and that show premiered on a Monday. If we only count Sunday dramas, I think that might be the lowest premiere number they’ve ever had.

Did anyone watch Vinyl? Incredibly expensive and incredibly unwatchable. Didn’t care about a single character on that show, seems like it was just a blank check by HBO to turn over an expensive show to high end talent, with no story or pace, and when they get in a jam, let’s play some more early 70s music (but not the really catchy stuff, and let’s not use the music in any cool ways). It was work just to get through that labored mess. I’ve had college exams that were more fun. I couldn’t believe Scorsese directed it or Winter wrote it.

And boo on the HBO sycophant critics that praised this overstuffed turkey. If this same lead balloon, B side of a first episode aired on A+E or FX, they would have really sharpened their knives. Take off your Scorsese/Winter colored glasses, it stinks!

AMC idiots premier show on the biggest date night of them all. Really these network execs have their heads up their butts. Its Valentines, as much as guys love their zombies, they are not having sex with them, at least most of them are not, so if these ‘brains’ at AMC thought they’er viewer was going to convince his girlfriend, wife or date to stay home, then these AMC execs truly have no life or the walkers ate their brains….

Anonymous • on Feb 17, 2016 9:44 am

I think that a lot of people DVR’d it because it was Valentine’s Day and a lot of people probably went out to either the movies or dinner date Etc. Because Walking Dead is the greatest show on tv.

Anonymous • on Feb 17, 2016 1:10 pm

How do they take in consideration the watchers that DVR. and when they watch it over and over again??

I DVR everything, so that means everything I watch isn’t being counted.

The fact that this was Valentine’s Day probably had more to do with the number of people who watched live.

PJP • on Feb 17, 2016 10:36 am

What kills ratings is having these stupid breaks “mid season”.
Also add in the people, like myself, that will NEVER watch anything like this when it is filled with ads. Better to wait the next day, pay a small fee and watch ad-free.

Sometime, I wonder whether most TV execs are not amongst the walking dead.

lo • on Feb 18, 2016 1:13 am

yeah what are execs doing having commercial breaks. it like they are trying to make money or something.

Kaire • on Feb 17, 2016 11:24 am

Never mind the fact that it aired on Valentine’s Day right!! I would think that the rating would go down a little on a holiday as people have more important things to do and probably recorded it. Walking Dead is my Favorite show and I did not watch it on the 14th I watched it on the 15th my Birthday!!

Bunn66 • on Feb 17, 2016 1:14 pm

It was Valentine’s Day! Hello??? AMC – it was a holiday celebrated by a lot of folks who probably went out to dinner and a movie but more than likely set the DVR to watch TWD the next day…..

Pam • on Feb 17, 2016 9:44 pm

Wow! I guess I’m in the minority? lol My husband & I both were in front of the tv to watch live! We had our “date” night on Friday, and made BBQ ribs on Sunday & sat down to watch TWD. Valentine’s Day isn’t as important to me as The Walking Dead…lol. I am still a bit surprised at the ratings. Still high though. Hopefully we’ll get the Live + 3 & it will jump to 18-20? Honestly, other than a few, very minor issues, (except daylight turning to nighttime seemingly in minutes?!) it was a great episode. Can’t wait for the rest!
And I agree with whoever said this “winter break” thing is a pain. Start it in November, & run it 16 weeks. (Except over Xmas break…2 weeks) Period. Much better.

KevinY • on Feb 18, 2016 1:44 am

Vinyl was slow out of the gate but by the end of the episode I was hooked. It’s like Quantico meets Empire meets Good Girls Revolt. Hopefully episode two will have a main title sequence. Any musical themed show has to have one!

Perhaps part of the low ratings is because flipping GCI got rid of AMC. There are a lot of TWD fans in Alaska and GCI is our prime cable service. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say tens of thousands of viewers had to wait, to fins another way to watch TWD. I am so disappointed in GCI. Amazon and Hulu now have extra money.

Seriously??? Absolute rubbish
Evidently these Hollywood doofs are never going to account for the viewers who use VOD and DVR. The “ratings” thing is pure nonsense

NYC Juan • on Feb 23, 2016 1:33 pm

I was dissapointed with Vinyl. I binged on Empire on FX, & it’s far superior in every way. I enjoyed Leftovers and the S2 finale leaves your head spinning. Like Abrams Lost, little has been revealed about the important events.
Saul fell flat. It’s as if it ignored the rule that season premiere’s need to hit a home run. It didn’t compare to BB’s. TWD is too predictable & the makeup effects are losing their bite. The zombie with the open entrails had a very fake looking chest. It looked like cardboard. When a show starts missing on the finer details, it’s decline is imminent. I expect FTWD to take a bigger tumble as well.